2012 Volume 61 Pages 51-81,en4
This article examines the relation between ando (a confirmation document of land titles for feudal lords) and sigyo (execution) in the legal procedure of the Muromachi shogunate in terms of the effect of possession (tochigyo). A previous study mentioned that possession in medieval Japanese land law was endowed with the right to receive ando and to take action in order to maintain possession. However, these effects were not the same throughout the medieval age; therefore, it is important to recognize the differences in the legal effects among the political authorities.
The Kamakura shogunate issued ando as an acceptance of succession, while the Kenmu government issued ando as a confirmation of the plaintiff's tochigyo. The Kenmu government protected the actual possessor through sigyo based on ando and an action taken for the maintenance of possession.
As opposed to the Kenmu government, the Muromachi shogunate in the period of Tadayoshi Ashikaga and Yoshiakira Ashikaga issued ando on the basis of the succession of the land or the document which proved the plaintiff's right to the land. Ando thus departed from the system of sigyo. The possessory remedies contained not only an action for the maintenance of possession but also one for the recovery of possession. In this procedure the Muromachi shogunate also confirmed the property right to an estate which the plaintiff claimed.
In the period of Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, ando largely increased. Till then, it meant an acceptance of the succession, but beginning in the Ouei era (1394-1428), it was known more as a confirmation of a plaintiff's tochigyo. An Ando was issued whether an individual was a possessor or not. Moreover, ando became the object of sigyo. The reason for the enforcement of sigyo was the expansion of the legal effect of ando.
In the period of Yoshimochi Ashikaga, especially from the 20s of the Ouei era, the Muromachi shogunate made it a rule that ando should be issued as a confirmation of a plaintiff's tochigyo. Following the law en-acted in Ouei 29, sigyo based on ando was abolished. On the other hand, the Muromachi shogunate developed a legal procedure with an emphasis on the confrontation between the parties. The change in the legal institutions meant that the Muromachi shogunate revised the policy from recovery of a dispossession to protection for the order of possession. Then, the provincial military governors issued ando for the possessor in their sphere of jurisdiction as well.
The system of sigyo enforced by Yoshimitsu Ashikaga is distinct from the viewpoint of ando's effect. Though possession had an effect on the legal systems in medieval land law, differences existed among political authorities. Understanding ando as a political authorization and its relation to possession can contribute to the development of research on chigyo.
